Viewership for the third season of the UFL was on par with the second.
The recently-completed UFL season averaged 674,000 viewers across the ESPN networks and Fox Sports, up 1% from last year (665K), a figure that is within the margin that can be explained by Nielsen methodological changes of the past year.
This year’s average is down from the initial season of the UFL in 2024 (850K), but tops the combined average of the USFL and XFL when they competed against each other in 2023 (635K, not including Adobe Analytics for NBC games).
Last weekend’s Louisville-D.C. UFL United Bowl averaged 988,000 viewers on ABC and ESPN Deportes, up 1% from last year (983K), again within the margin that would be explained by Nielsen’s methodological changes of the past year. The game aired in a Saturday afternoon window this year after airing in primetime the two prior years, including a Sunday night Father’s Day edition two years ago that averaged 1.60 million on FOX.
The United Bowl was not the most-watched telecast of the season or even the most-watched on ABC. Six UFL windows this season topped the million viewer mark, topped by a season-high audience of 1.59 million for Dallas-Louisville immediately following the Indy 500 on FOX. Four of those six aired on ABC, including 1.05 million for a Dallas-DC matchup in May.
ABC itself averaged 951,000 viewers for the season, up 10% from last year’s 866,000. That helped the ESPN networks to an average of 717,000, up 6%. The FOX broadcast network averaged 693,000, up 5% from last year. Games also aired on FS1, ESPN2 and NFL Network, which are included in the overall average.
Dating back to the launch of the Alliance of American Football in 2019, there have been only six total completed seasons of spring football in this decade. (Neither the 2019 AAF or and 2020 XFL lasted a full season, the latter folding due to COVID.)
The UFL was the first of the recently-launched leagues to successfully complete a third season, providing the first opportunity for something of an apples-to-apples comparison. Prior spring football seasons have been compared to inaugural seasons — when curiosity and viewership are typically highest — or to different leagues. The year-over-year increase (even if fully accounted for by changes in Nielsen methodology) is thus something of a milestone.
Viewership for the UFL comfortably outpaces that of other recently-launched leagues. Season two of the TGL indoor golf league averaged 488,000 viewers on ESPN, and season two of the women’s basketball league Unrivaled averaged 166,000 on TNT Sports (not including games that aired solely on truTV). The BIG3, which is about to begin its ninth season, averaged 560,000 on CBS last year.
